Artemis Fowl and the Fountain of Youth
by A Space Ostrich
Summary: When Butler discovers a lethal problem, Artemis and the gang must race against time to cure him. Featuring new characters from the peoples past, can Artemis save his friend in time?
1. Prologue

**This is my second story ever but my first in recent years. I'm planning this to be a short novel length story set after the dramatic ending to the series. A few things you should know. Artemis has fully recovered and the Koboi chip disaster is almost entirely unimportant. The world is up and running again and Artemis is doing what he does best, making money. Enjoy, review and if you happen to know BosBabe, ask her to pm me. I've switched accounts recently and need to get in touch with my contacts.**

Prologue:

Somewhere in the Amazon rainforest, 1510

Hunger is a strange feeling, one moment it can be gnawing at your insides, drowning out all other feeling, and the next it's gone. Sebastian Fernandez pondered that for a moment before moving closer to the artifact. The hot amazonian sun glinted off burnished helmets, while his soldiers lay down their shovels and took a well deserved rest, moving into the shade of a nearby tree. He walked over to the stone, a large pointed thing that looked both centuries old and polished new all at once.

He ran a hand over the symbols embossed on the stone and pulled a cloth from his pocket. He checked the symbol for fountain he had on his cloth with the symbols written on the artifact. Yes, it matched. He licked his lips and leaned forward for a closer look. The sound of shouting from the treeline caught his attention. He turned. A slim blade slipped between his ribs, puncturing his lungs and heart. He spluttered and fell to his knees, as his attacker pulled the blade out and snatched the cloth from his hand. His vision was blurring but he could see his men being slaughtered among the trees.

Frond stepped back from the dying man and looked at the symbol on the cloth. "Well, well, what have we here?" He said.


	2. Chapter 1

**Heres chapter one guys, enjoy and review. I don't own Artemis Fowl, yada yada yada.**

Chapter One: Heist

Madrid, Spain, 2015 (or 3 years post 12)

Most 17 year old boys spend their time playing video games or chasing after girls. Most 17 year olds don't have a multi billion dollar technology empire, or a multimillion dollar environmentalist corporation. Artemis Fowl is not most 17 year olds. After his father's return, the Fowl finances had plateaued at a healthy 50 million a year, but the Kobio chip disaster of 2012 had all but eliminated the worlds technology, and Artemis had stepped in. The new Fowl enterprises had spread like wildfire, moving from Ireland to mainland europe almost faster than the fairy support specialists could pump out the tech.

The fairies and Artemis has organised the largest, and only, joint operation in the Peoples history, Fowl Enterprises had a monopoly on technology, and Artemis wasn't about to repeat the mistakes of the old world. All of his tech was biodegradable, and his infrastructure was clean and efficient. He got permission to sell obsolete fairy energy technology, and placed the patent for clean fusion and high efficient solar energy on the creative commons. Within two years the world had gone from stone age to space age, and temperatures were no longer rising. Artemis handed the company over to Artemis Fowl Sr, staying on as a consultant of course, and focused on what Fowls do best. Appropriating items of value that may not necessarily belong to them.

It was one of his devious schemes that resulted in him waiting outside the new national bank of Spain in Madrid, attempting to remain somewhat inconspicuous despite being one of the most well known faces of the new world. The giant eurasian bodyguard probably didn't help.

Butler was in a bad mood. Artemis has once again insisted on making his job as difficult as possible. He squinted in the bright sunshine,and put on his sunglasses, checking the rooftops for snipers. Artemis had even managed to make that difficult, with a few buildings utilising rooftop gardens that provided any hidden adversaries with cover. Butler switched to thermal, sweeping both sides of the street. A few birds, a cat, and little else. A heat signature in the corner of his eye caught his attention, someone behind a tree on the roof across the street. He placed a hand on his Sig Sauer and magnified the rooftop. Just a couple of teenagers, he sighed quietly and lowered his hand, looking over at Artemis.

The young man was much more at ease in the noisy street than he would have been a few years back, his forced interaction with people, a side effect of his fame, had done away with much of his, as Holly had put it, dickish, behaviour. He was no longer accidentally, that being the key word here, abrasive or cold with people. Though he still liked to maintain his reputation as an intellectual mastermind. At the moment he was signing an autograph for the waitress of a neighbouring cafe. So I guess inconspicuous is out the window.

The bank door opened and a Spanish banker flanked by bodyguards stepped out into the street. Artemis bounded up the short flight of steps and shook his hand warmly, as Butler followed him up the bodyguards took an involuntary step backwards, as did the banker. Artemis scowled at him. The banker recovered and ushered the pair into the building, large double doors opening to reveal a tastefully furnished lobby with marble flooring and intricate detail. A bright golden chandelier hung from the ceiling. They approached the round marble counter and Butler smiled at the receptionist, putting the banker a little more at ease. The receptionist looked up and tugged at her jade earring.

"What can I do for you sir?" Juliet asked, looking at Artemis.  
"I'd like to make a transfer to an offshore account." Artemis replied.  
"Of course _sir_, step right this way." She gestured down a passage to the right of the desk. Juliet waited until the group was out of sight before standing up and casually headed towards the chief security room.

Artemis' plan was relatively uncomplicated. Juliet had been installed in the bank ahead of time, and from within she had fed Artemis information about how the bank operated. His plan revolved around the banks reliance on wireless transfer. When they had entered she had activated the signal jammer within her earring, flooding the banks wireless network with phantom requests, many of these requests were repeats of previous transfers, in order to prevent collateral damage to the other customers of the bank. Artemis has changed a lot. Once the transfer Artemis would attempt had failed he would be brought to the vault to make a physical transfer. Once inside he would simply use his phone to search for the painting and smuggle it out using the banks own delivery service. Easy, the last two paintings he had stolen had required much more finesse.

In the transfer room the banker timidly approached Artemis and his bodyguard. "Um, sir. It appears that the transfer is impossible at this time." he swallowed "if you would like to use a physical withdrawal you'll need to make an appointment and-" he cut off as Butler took a step forward, his massive feet thudding on carpet.  
"But you've so kindly explained the situation to the manager and he's agreed to make an exception. Right?" said Artemis coldly. Maybe he hasn't changed so much after all. The banker squeaked as Butler turned his cool stare on him.  
"Of course s-sir, right th-this way."

He led them down yet another well furnished corridor, frantically whispering to the manager on his phone. Artemis smiled to himself. The banker led them through the bank and into a concrete carpark washed out by harsh artificial light. A massive steel vault door was opposite them, with the intervening space taken up by trucks, crates and more security cameras than Fowl Manor itself. The noise of all the trucks was echoing in the confined space. He looked up and saw that area was covered a a concrete roof held up by pillars two metres thick. From the outside this area was a massive raised park. Artemis was led over to a waiting open topped truck, and it joined the queue of vehicles moving in and out of the vault. The door, which had first appeared shut, was actually hinged open enough to allow two of the trucks to pass through side by side. As they passed through the vault door he looked up into the darkness the pervaded the inside of the vault, even though he knew that the building couldn't be more than thirty metres at the most it seemed to go on forever.

The truck traveled through the vault for only a short way, before turning to the right. Artemis couldn't see anything beyond the truck. A set of red lights around the trucks rim flashed on, revealing a row of lockboxes extending as far as the light revealed. "To make things harder for potential thieves" the banker explained "is the reason for the low light. This place is virtually impossible to navigate without a bank escort." Artemis walked over to the boxes. The banker and guards turned away, allowing him to open his own box. The bank didn't have the exact box of it's customers. Instead, each customer was assigned a group of five boxes and the client could pick which one. This all served to increase security. Many clients used multiple boxes in their set. Artemis pulled out his phone and set up a background scan for the kind of old paint he was looking for. In the meantime he punched in his 50 digit passcode and opened up the box. He slowly began to count off euro bills, making sure to keep one eye on his phone.

The phone was installed with a set of blueprints Artemis had designed himself, using a combination of Juliets information, guesswork, and the fact that Fowl Enterprises had devised the block boxes system used by the bank. Bingo, a match, and only 200 metres to the north. Artemis motioned to Butler and sent him the file. Butler had to get past the guards, who, while forbidden from observing the clients, would certainly notice him leaving. He activated a fairy moonbelt and kicked off from the floor, quickly rising over the lockboxes and into the murky darkness. The standard moonbelt reduced the weight of anything attached to it to one sixth of earth's norm. This modified version reduced it to one twelfth. When Butler put his fingers together and used his hands like wings, he could essentially glide.

Like a child pretending to be a bird he glided over the rows of boxes, using the low light filter on his sunglasses. I must look ridiculous. He landed right next to the box the painting was stored in, activating Artemis' codebuster program and sweeping the area for guards, there were no cameras, part of the block boxes setup. The word UNLOCKED flashed on the phones screen and Butler pulled open the box. Taking the rolled up canvas tube after checking for traps. He placed the tube carefully in his suit jacket, in a specially sewn pocket. One of the benefits of being so big is that smuggling things becomes much easier. He placed the fake painting, a picture of a black and white striped burglar making off with a square garbage bag, in the box and locked it. Pushing off with his feet again.

Artemis finished locking his own box as Butler landed beside him, deactivating the belt. The pair turned and headed back to the guards, piling into the truck while maintaining an unfeeling mask. The plan was successful, he had the painting and soon he could focus on the _El Dorado_. He smiled at the thought of his pet project. He was broken out of his reverie by the sound of the guards talking to one another in the front. They were both looking at one of the guards cellphones. Artemis used another program to see what they were viewing. It was camera footage of Butler landing in front of the other box. He heard one of the guards whisper "How did he float like that?" Not so honest after all, no cameras, what a load of sprite droppings.

He angled his phone at Butler and wrote on the screen, PREP THE EMP. Butler nodded. He leaned forward and tapped the guards on the shoulder. They turned, startled and he cracked their heads together. He speed dialed Juliet and she answered before the first ring had run down.  
"Plan B?" she asked.  
"Yes" he replied. He had administered and mild amnesiac to the guards and similarly incapacitated banker before turning the truck towards the delivery entrance. The entrance was just as thick and imposing as the vault door they had just passed through. "Open the door Juliet" he said quietly. "Then get to the delivery entrance."  
"Roger" she reached over the unconscious security room staff and tapped on the keyboard. Butler pulled the truck up outside the door and jumped out.

Next to the slowly opening door there was another security tower about ten metres tall. He sprinted up some metal stairs, breathing heavily. A guard exited the room just as the electromagnetic pulse shut down all the electronics in the bank. "What the he-" he started to say before Butlers elbow smashed into his gut. Butler straightened his tie as five more guards charged out of the door, slowing slightly as they caught sight of him. Butler stepped forward, suddenly conscious of his wildly pounding heart and ragged breath. Somethings wrong.

The guards couldn't believe their luck when the giant man keeled over as they reached him. One slapped some cuffs on the unconscious man's wrists. He called out to his colleagues to secure the area when a jade ring hit him hard in the back of the head. Knocking him out.

Juliet stepped over the man and checked her brothers pulse, it seemed weak. She propped him up against the side of the building and he stirred in his sleep. She patted him on the shoulder and started down the stairs. A guard turned to her as she reached the bottom and she slammed him into the concrete floor, before twirling and catching his comrade between the eyes with a jade ring tied to her ponytail. She dropped to more guards as Artemis walked over. "Help me lift him" Juliet shouted jogging back up the stairs. Artemis' complaints died as soon as he saw Butler, unconscious and gasping for breath in his sleep. The pair carried him down the stairs and to the truck, with Juliet carrying most of the weight.

"What happened to him?" Artemis asked as Juliet pulled the truck smoothly out onto a, thankfully empty, private road.  
"Dunno, but it doesn't look good" Juliet replied, checking the mirrors for pursuing vehicles. Artemis examined his friends sleeping face. His breath had returned to normal at least. He immediately noticed something horrible.  
"We have a problem" he started.  
"It can wait till we are in the clear Artemis" she interrupted.  
"Very well" he said. Pray he has that long, he thought but didn't say, Juliet would find out soon enough. Butlers face, where it had been relatively smooth and unlined. Was now covered in small wrinkles. In the span of a day he seemed to have aged half a decade, not that Artemis could be sure how old he was.

**Thats all for chapter one, let me know how I can improve and be sure to review. Bai bai!**


	3. Chapter 2: Undercover

**I am extremely sorry for the massive wait between chapters. I want you all to know that I do intend to do this, and hopefully updates will be more frequent. I was a little overwhelmed with full time work, but I've started TAFE now and will have hours of time where I can work on this. Enjoy.**

Chapter Two: Undercover

The fairy city of Haven was rather small by human standards, it would barely qualify as a large town, never mind being host to the vast majority of an entire species. The Atlantis Incident, as the 2012 disaster had come to be known, had swelled Havens size with refugees, and the cities Govcentral had been quick to respond. New districts had been bored out of the rock, Foaly and Artemis had worked tirelessly on methods to prevent heat expansion from destroying or isolating these new districts. Surprisingly, the Gnome Mafia had come forth, agreeing to help fund one of the districts in return for being able to set up legitimate businesses there beforehand. Govcentral and the LEP weren't strictly happy with the idea, but the public strongly approved.

The Neon District, as it eventually came to be called, was unique in Haven for it's complete lack of UV strips in the ceiling of its cavern. Lighting in the Neon District was provided entirely by the buildings and neon signs, hence the name. The area had tiny lights installed on the caverns roof, with a larger moon shaped UV disk. The district was designed to resemble a nighttime metropolis on the surface, complete with a cloud generator near the roof. The area was a haven for younger fairies, and rapidly became the entertainment capital of the underworld. It was also a haven for criminals, though the gnome mafias presence prevented goblin gangs from moving into the area. At least, it had...

Holly Short was chasing a goblin through the lower reaches of the city. Light here was almost nonexistent, due to the elevated streets above. The goblin passed into the almost solid blackness beneath the structures supporting the raised street and Holly quickly lost sight of him. She advanced cautiously, Neutrino raised. Some sixth sense, instinct, told her to leap to the side, she did, rolling quickly and coming up beside a trash can. A bottle fell from the raised street above landing on the floor where she was standing before. She let out a sigh of relief, wiping her Auburn hair from her eyes.

A neutrino bolt whizzed past the trash can, almost causing her to jump. She drew her own weapon and continued the chase, firing back before vaulting over a small jersey barrier, emerging into the relative brightness after the shadows beneath the street. She saw the goblin enter a nearby building, slamming and barring the door with a chair. Holly arrived at the door a second too late, pounding it in frustration. Panting heavily, she shook her head sharply to move her hair from her eyes, and then looked around desperately.

Her eyes lit up as she spied an access ladder to the street above. Still breathing heavily, she began to climb. Who the _hell_ thought it was a good idea to build the street twenty metres above the bloody floor, she thought angrily as she climbed. And for that matter, who thought it was a good idea to approve a mafia run district, it's bloody stupid. She leapt from a loose brick and hauled herself over a railing and onto the pavement of the sidewalk. Hearing a cracking sound, she looked over the edge to see the brick she had jumped from falling to the hard concrete far below.

Knowing she had a few minutes before the goblin would risk venturing out onto the street, she positioned herself on a bench opposite the building the goblin had entered. Pulling a hood up to cover her distinctive hair, tugging her ears through the holes, she settled down to wait. Fingering her neutrino in her jacket pocket. A drunk sprite staggered over to her, at a risk of falling off the raised area despite the railing, and leered at her. She shot him a look of pure venom and half pulled the neutrino out of her pocket. The sprite ambled off down the road, cursing her loudly.

She was undercover, working alone in the Neon district to try and root out a suspected fairy smuggling organisation. The gnomes insisted it wasn't them, and the main body of the LEP had been instructed to act like they had bought it. Holly's job was to find out whether or not the gnomes were lying. While eavesdropping on conversations in a Downtown nightclub (the shadowy areas below the literal uptown had taken on the appropriate nickname) she had seen a shifty looking goblin sidling towards a back door. The pulsing lights and holographic projections had made it difficult to identify him, but her LEP intelligence block had a 60% match on the goblin as a known, and wanted, criminal. A goblin as a wanted criminal, what are the odds, Holly had thought to herself as she silently followed him.

He had resisted arrest and had a weapon, so Holly was reasonably sure that the goblin was a criminal, whether he was the criminal she was looking for was another matter entirely. The door Holly was watching eased open, and the furtive looking goblin stepped outside. He darted along the walkway connecting the building to the street proper, and pulled his own hood up. Holly blended in with a group of young elves, laughing loudly. She dodged around one elf and pushed through to the front of the group. She prepared herself to jump the goblin, who was only a few metres ahead. The elf behind her, doped up on stimulants, grabbed her ass through her skirt. She gasped, furious, then went eerily calm. The elf, sensing no threat, tightened his grip, grinning wolfishly. The elf saw a blur of movement, felt agonising pain on his hand, balls and torso, then fell into the blessed relief of unconsciousness.

In one move she spun, drawing her weapon and flicking it up to a setting that would cause large amounts of pain, but not enough to knock anybody out. She fired at the hand holding her backside, then, in the space of half a second, fired shots at his crotch and then chest. She grabbed the elf's shoulder, using the leverage to get a bit more power out of the kick she aimed at his stomach, sending him flying backwards into his companions. She pirouetted, flicking the setting on her neutrino up to knockout, and fired one shot at the goblin, who crumpled and hit the sidewalk, babbling nonsensically. Finally she rounded on the other party-goers.

Varen Milson, the elf who led his school to crunchball victory years in a row, quivered under the look that red haired demoness gave him. A wry smile appeared on Holly's lips, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. It grew slightly wider as she saw that the elf that had groped her had pissed himself.

"Get lost, now!" she said injecting some of her fury into the last word.

The elves gathered up their fallen companion and ran, terrified up the street, heedless of the foul smelling liquid seeping into their clothes. She walked over to the now unconscious goblin and cuffed his hands behind his back. She grunted as she heaved him over her shoulder, and set off for her Uptown apartment, a genuine smile in place as she contemplated how to spend the rest of her evening, free from the normal mountain of paperwork that would accompany an arrest, never mind the fact that she had attacked a civilian. _I think I'm taking a liking to this undercover business._

**I intended for this chapter to be longer, and I don't like to leave the Butler situation on a cliffhanger, but this point seems like the logical place to end this chapter, as I don't intent to write about Holly's night clubbing. At least, not right now. I'll definitely update this more often, make sure to review. Particularly the way I portray character thoughts (only Italicizing direct thoughts) and most of all, feel free to make suggestions.**


	4. Chapter 3: Old School and then some

**This is the first of the flashback chapters set in the early days of the peoples life underground, I don't really want to write them, but they are crucial to the story so I'll make do. I don't own any characters or settings in the story, with the exception of the Neon District. Enjoy.**

The elven king Frond sat at his desk with his head in his hands. His crown askew, his clothes dishevelled. It was several months after the people had moved underground, choosing safety and secrecy over the open skies. Construction crews were working on expanding the natural caverns and building the foundations of what would one day become the shuttle port of Tara, but was currently known as the Refuge. The fairies lived much closer to the surface in those days, they still had natural air, and in some cases, natural light. This proximity to the surface was the cause for Frond's, less than regal, appearance. Malcontents and warriors out for blood constantly made for the surface, pushing Frond's recovery teams to their absolute limit. None had been spotted by the humans, who believed the fairies wiped out, but it was only a matter of time.

He had planned for the fairies to live deeper, close as possible to the centre of the earth, but without the Demon warlocks to support them, the miners couldn't dig anywhere near fast enough. So here he sat, contemplating how best to deal with the rogue fairies, when his Lieutenant, Camilla, entered the room. One of an increasingly small group of elves that retained their wings, she had a walnut complexion and dark brown hair, tied into a ponytail behind her head. Her wings were white, and extended from her shoulder blades, they came down to just above the back of her knees.

"Sorry to disturb you sir, but there is a crowd outside asking for you."

"What do they want?"

"They haven't said, though based on the current situation they likely want to know what you are going to do about the runners." Frond sighed, kneading his forehead.

"What do they expect me to do, there are only a few..." He trailed off, an idea sparking in his mind. "Let's get out there, I have a plan."

He led the way out of the building, constructed from the liquid stone that most new buildings utilised, and out onto a podium above the crowd. Most of the population of Refuge was out there, those that weren't trying to run away, he thought ruefully. The amassed crowd fell silent as he stepped out into the trickle of sunlight coming in from the hole in the earth above. The crowd looked up expectantly. Frond took a breath, then another, marshalling his thoughts, he would need to win the crowd over to his idea, if he failed, the people could be discovered.

"People of the Refuge, I know why you are here, and let me assure you, I have a solution." the crowd chattered amongst themselves for a few seconds before falling silent again. Frond took that as a good sign and continued. "The runners are a serious threat to the safety of our race, however, I cannot stop them all, there are only a handful of us working against them, and there are many who try to avoid us." He paused, making sure the crowd was listening. "To properly police the entrances to our caverns, I will need more fairies, which is why, as of now, I am asking for anybody who wished to join the Lower Elements Police, to come forth." His voice rang out. The crowd still silent. "I understand that many of you will be hesitant, many of the runners are warriors, which is why I am also requesting the help of tinkers, inventors, strategists, builders and even mathematicians and librarians. The Lower Elements Police will be multifaceted, we need every advantage in the fight to save our city, our people, from these anarchists."

The crowd looked a little more confident, though nobody had stepped forward yet. Frond decided one more thing would be needed to tip the odds in his favour. "I am also understand that many of you are wondering how I will lead the people if I am busy leading the Police." A few nods and murmured agreements greeted this statement. "Therefore, I am officially making the council, formerly advisers to my rule, the new leaders of our people. You have elected them to serve your interests and present them to me, now they will serve your interests directly. I myself will lead the Police Force." and with that, he stepped down from the podium, took off his crown and handed it to Camilla, who was given instructions to donate the gold and gems to the Police budget. The crowd was shocked, silent, then erupted into cheers.

"Frond, Frond, Frond, Frond!" They cried, before volunteers rushed forward, and Camilla went about the, now difficult, task of organising the police force into divisions.

Hours later, when the last of the newly promoted officers was sent home, with instructions to arrive at the former kings building at 6:00 am the next morning, Camilla walked into her new police chiefs room and kissed him breathlessly.

"That was brilliant sir!" she said excitedly, "just the thing the people needed to show them what you are willing to do."

Frond grunted something unintelligible, and Camilla slackened her grip slightly. "What was that sir?"

"I said thanks. But the real work begins tomorrow." He stood up, snuffed out the candle and went to sleep.

…

Several months after the founding of the LEP, Frond marched down the lines of fresh recruits, smiling inwardly while maintaining a taciturn expression on the outside. Behind him, the tinkers had set up a long table with a cloth covering their latest invention. The head tinker, a well spoken centaur by the name of Gorr, marched beside him. The Sergeants, most veterans of the original recovery teams, grinned at the sight of the recruits squirming under his scrutiny. The parade ground they were standing on was made from the liquid stone, which the builders had taken to calling concrete. The concrete was cold, and some of the smaller recruits were shivering slightly in their uniforms. The uniforms were made from light blue, white and red cloth, and featured a white silk shirt, red leggings and a blue trench coat over the top. The sergeants, Camilla, and himself had red detailing on the shoulders, which served to indicate rank. All of them wore a metal badge in the shape of an acorn, the recruits had bronze, the sergeants had silver, and both he and Camilla had gold.

He stopped his march in the centre of the lines of recruits, looking ahead he could see the three perfectly straight rows. He allowed himself a smile, and the tension in the air lessened considerably. He stood back, and motioned Gorr forward.

"Greetings officers, I am Gorr, head tinker of the LEP." The centaur had a deep, cultured voice, and a cheerful demeanor. The recruits relaxed and greeted him in return. "My job is to equip our officers with the most advanced weaponry and equipment, so you can all come home safe and with all of your bits attached." He gestured to another centaur behind him. "Those of you with wings, follow my assistant to the weapons room, he'll get you kitted out properly. Those without, step forward."

There was a few moments delay while the sprites and a quarter of the elves followed the junior centaur into the LEP armoury behind him. The rest of the recruits gathered around Gorr, smiling expectantly. Gorr looked at the expression on the faces of the recruits, and laughed, deep and booming. "Yes my friends, the rumours are true. You will need additional training, but I'm sure you will all agree that it is worth it." He flicked the cloth from the table, revealing row after row of gleaming bronze wing rigs. The recruits cheered and high fived. The sergeants organised the lines of elves and gnomes, distributing everybody the correct sized wings. Once the recruits were formed up again, Gorr had them march down to an obstacle course set up, and began the arduous process of teaching the eager young recruits to fly. Frond and Camilla watched the proceedings for a time, then turned and headed for the armoury, Frond with his own rig slung over his shoulder, Camilla flexing her wings and ensuring no feathers were sticking out or damaged.

Inside the armoury was much the same, the elves that still had wings, (it was an increasingly recessive trait), and the sprites were to be first on the ground. Modified crossbows were being tossed back and forth, loaded with the paralysing darts developed by the tinkers and generally gripped tightly by the recruits, who were quickly realising the gravity of the situation. Mages were walking along the group, checking the sparks the recruits had and teaching them the basics of shielding and how to mesmerise any humans who might spot them. Those with skill as mages were practicing tossing bolts of weak lightning at targets along the wall, while others practised holds and hand to hand combat techniques. The group stood to attention as Frond entered the room.

"Alright people, listen up. Recon has just sent word that we have a big group of former soldiers setting up camp on the surface. These guys are heavily trained and armed, so we need to use teamwork, and coordination." Frond stopped and looked around the room, making sure the recruits were paying attention. "Corporal Willow, the plan." He gestured for one of the Recon flyboys to step forward. Corporal James Willow was decked out entirely in green. He wore a green hat with a brim on the front to help shield his eyes, the hat extended higher than normal, to fit the complex machinery needed to take photographs. A massive camera was set into the front of the hat, and a cable led from the back of it to the backpack he was wearing. He wore the same trench coat and leggings as the others, but in varying shades of green. His wing rig, mounted to the backpack, was weaker than most, as much of the space was taken up by the photography equipment. It was also smeared with dirt, to take the shine off the bronze plating.

He stepped forward, and spread his photographs over the table in the centre of the room. He pushed most to one side, sliding one to the centre and tapping it.

"As you can see by this picture, the group are set up in a clearing about five kilometres from a human settlement. The humans don't know anything about it yet, but these rebels are out for revenge, so rest assured gentlemen, they will." He slid over a new photo, this time of a dangerous looking gnome in full plate mail armour. "This is their leader, a dangerous fellow who's taken to calling himself the General. We don't know his real name, and honestly we don't care, he is a threat to the people, and must be stopped." Willow stepped back, and left the recruits to study the remainder of the photos, images of the clearing from different angles.

Frond strapped on his own rig and grabbed a crossbow from the weapon rack in the corner, he checked the mechanical slide. A genius invention that allowed the force of the bolt being fired to be enhanced and used to knock the next bolt. He then spent another half an hour organising the group into squads and getting the plan of action refined and remembered by every one of the recruits. He looked over his men and women one last time, nodded at those who looked like they needed some encouragement, and turned towards the door, uttering the future unofficial motto of LEPRecon.

"Let's go get the rotten bastards!"

**This chapter wound up being much more fun to write than I thought, all it took was some more interesting characters. I've never been good at characterisation, so I don't know if it came across in the chapter, but I'm hoping Frond, Gorr, Willow and Camilla will be likeable and deep enough for repeated scenes. Review and feel free to make suggestions. Ostrich out.**


	5. Chapter 4: Blood and Nightclubs

**Sorry about the wait, I had some stuff to do for TAFE. I'm working on improving my writing style, as well as making the chapters longer. If I keep at it, I might make it to professional quality by the end of this. If not, well, getting better has never hurt anyone, right. I don't own the characters or universe, but I do own the Neon District. By the way, I do know that the repeating crossbows I described in the previous chapter don't work, but I honestly cannot be bothered researching how actual repeating crossbows worked, so I'm sticking with it. Enjoy.**

Chapter Four: Blood and Nightclubs

Fowl Manor, Ireland

Artemis was sat in front of a monitor, sleeping fitfully. The bags beneath his eyes showed how long he had stayed awake for. Since arriving back at Fowl Manor a few days previously he had not slept, frantically searching for a solution to a very deadly problem. Butler, his oldest friend, guardian and confidant. Was dying, cursed by some magical side effect or latent scheme by his enemies to age faster than he should. Artemis had intentionally avoided trying to figure out how much time he had left, though he had managed to slow the aging slightly by injecting him with a potent cocktail of chemicals and drugs, buying them a little more precious time.

Juliet had taken over Butlers duties, managing the household and taking care of Artemis. She was carrying a tray of food in one hand, and some research notes Artemis had requested in her other hand. She stopped outside the door to his office, hearing his deeper breathing. She opened the door quietly, tiptoeing across the sun striped carpet and setting the tray down next to the computer. She smiled grimly, taking note of Artemis' dishevelled appearance. She leaned over his shoulder to get a look at what he was researching. As she scanned the open document, she frowned, seeing references to the fountain of youth of spanish legend, as well as something called the El Dorado. She started slightly as Artemis awoke, wiping his eyes and thanking her for the notes. She nodded quickly, then stood up and left the room, confident that Artemis would reveal all when the time was right.

Butler was confined to bed, too weak to walk properly. Many people would have made preparations in the event of their death, Butler had not. This was due in part to the fact that he trusted Artemis to solve the problem, and also due to the fact that his will had been prepared for years, since not long after the Fowl Manor siege, when he was recovering from his fight with a troll.

Artemis looked over the notes Juliet had brought him, before nodding to himself and twisting the ring he wore on his middle finger. It was a fairy communicator, "liberated" from the LEP armory by Holly during her brief stint as a private investigator. He held his clenched hand to his ear, thumb and little finger extended, much like a child pretending to use a telephone, and spoke softly into his fingertip.

"Activate, call Holly."

…

Holly's Apartment, Complex 507, Neon District, Haven

The previous night, Holly had interrogated the captured Goblin. Walking into her uptown apartment with the limp bundle draped over her shoulder. She had tossed him into the cell built into the basement, locking the door and neglecting to uncuff him, in case he had any bright ideas to try and burn his way out. She hid her weapons behind a holograph of Disneyland, showcasing one of Foaly's new inventions. The weapons and armor cache would drill into the wall, self vacuuming any debris and projecting a holograph of the users choice to make it easier to locate. She tapped the image in a programmed sequence, and it shut off, the machine whirring as it unfolded and activated. It grew out into the shape of a walk in wardrobe. She walked past the glowing circle on the floor, used to equip combat armour, and stowed her neutrino on a rack of similar weapons. She tapped an orange interface and cycled through to find some smaller, easily hidden weapons. The rack of neutrinos sank into the wall, the device bringing up another rack with knives, miniature buzzbatons, and even a telescoping katana.

She picked up the katana and a baton, tapping the shutdown command on the cache on her way out, it folded itself back up and into the wall, once again projecting the picture of Disneyland. Holly walked over to the bathroom whistling cheerily as she twirled the baton in her hand. After cleaning off the accumulated sweat and filth of the downtown nightclub, chase, firefight and trip home, she decided it was time to have a little talk with her prisoner. She walked down to the basement, baton in hand, and sauntered into the cell, the goblin sleeping in the corner.

She slapped the goblin awake, it shrank away from her fearfully. She drew herself up to full height, tapping the baton against her hand.

"Don't hit me, elf. I've done nothing. I never hurt anybody." it rattled off desperately.

"I highly doubt that" Holly said coldly. The goblin decided, too late, to try and leverage his allies.

"I have friends, elf, friends who are bigger than you. They will crush you, burn you to a crisp. But if you let me go, I won't tell them anything, I'll ahhh-" He cut off as Holly shocked him with the baton.

"Shut up and listen to me worm" her face inches away from the terrified goblin, "I want to know everything about everyone you work for, I want names and places. Tell me what I want and I'll consider not cracking your skull open like a walnut!" for emphasis, she slammed her fist against the wall beside his head, causing him to recoil, shivering against the wall.

"The mafia, I smuggle fairies for the mafia!" he screeched. Holly smiled. Checkmate.

The goblin had been mind wiped and thrown unceremoniously into a downtown dumpster. The next morning Holly visited a mall in a neighbouring district. The simulated daylight and bright sky was a relief after the constant night of the Neon District. She seated herself at a cafe and ordering herself some sim coffee. Not long after she sat down, sipping her drink, a nervous raven haired young elf sat down opposite her. Placing a datapad on the table, he scratched behind his ear idly, and his eyes darted around the room. Holly looked it over. A fat, jovial looking sprite grinned up at her from the pad. She drained the rest of her coffee, placed the pad in her trench coat pocket and walked out. Her informant paid for her drink and left a few minutes later, shuddering to himself about what would happen if he was seen.

…

Holly was seated at a floating table in the upper left corner of the nightclub, sipping a martini glass of some glowing green liquid while keeping her eyes firmly fixed on a well dressed sprite seated at the clubs main table. Unlike the downtown nightclubs she had visited so far, the patrons of Mesmerise were all clean, clothed, and for the most part law abiding. The building consisted of a large set of double doors with glowing Neon lights around the side, these doors were set into a glass wall, affording patrons a stunning view of the district spread out before them. Hover cars and tall brightly lit buildings keeping a sharp contrast from the shadowy rectangular holes past the sidewalk, dim red lights hinting at the seedy underbelly downtown. Groups of fairies ambled along the sidewalk, protected from falling by a metal railing. The word Mesmerise could be seen, printed backwards when viewed from the interior, in silver, reflective colours.

Inside, the rectangular room featured a curved bar on the right, manned by a pair of talented performing bartenders, tossing glasses and liquids through the air to the cheers of those around them. On the left wall was a row of terminals, their holographic interfaces glowing a warm orange. The space in between was taken up by floating tables, with groups of fairies standing around a circular light of the floor before being whisked up into the air. Serving drones, also glowing, floated between tables, bringing drinks and food to the patrons. Against the back wall was a dance floor, shrouded in darkness cast by the shadow of the overhead VIP area, a sea of shifting, grinding bodies jostled in the strobing lights and earth shaking bass.

Just behind the terminals and bar, and overhanging the dance floor, were a pair of wave escalators, capable of rapidly moving a whole party of fairies up to the VIP area. The VIP area itself was located above the dance floor, and curved out to about halfway along the walls. A glass rail prevented anyone from falling to the floor a few metres below. The main table, like all the others, was made from glass and had a glowing edge, several prominent businessmen and nightclub owners were seated around it, with the gnome Holly was watching so intently seated in the middle. The gnome in question was looking out over the city, entirely unaware of his observer. The datapad her incompetent informant had given her listed this sprite, Hugo Katishna, as one of the masterminds of the fairy smuggling operation.

Holly watched him, and when she had managed to surreptitiously pilot a bug into the pocket of one of his burly bodyguards, listened to him for most of the night.

"I've been told you ran into some trouble with the last shipment." he said casually to an enforcer seated next to him, a grin still planted firmly on his face.

"A little bit yeah, one of the passengers tried to back out, said he didn't wanna work with us anymore." the enforcer said. Hugo's smile shrank a little, he didn't allow people to back out on deals. His enforcer saw the movement, and hurried to reassure him. "Don't worry boss, we "convinced" him to reconsider."

"You didn't damage him did you, we can't have him dieing before he gets there."

"He don't need both eyes does he, one's enough for him to see where he's going." Hugo sighed, his grin vanishing completely.

"You'd best hope for your sake that our employer doesn't mind it, or else you'll be replacing him." the enforcer shrank back, weakly apologising.

Holly frowned on the other side of the club, they were definitely smuggling fairies, but the fairies didn't seem to be willing passengers like the LEP had initially thought. Hugo lifted his bulk from the chair and he and his entourage made their way to the door, Holly checked her pad and pulled another fly like microphone from her pocket. She flew the mechanical insect over to Hugo and parked it under his collar, in case the bodyguard was separated from her target. She waited for another hour, checking the tracking program on her pad. Once she saw that Hugo had arrived at an abandoned shuttle port a few blocks away, she finished her drink, buttoned her trench coat and strode confidently out of the club, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Hugo stepped off the scanner plate at his high tech headquarters in the abandoned shuttle port on the outskirt of the Neon District. He pulled the bug from his collar, located thanks to the impressive array of scanners built into the door. And grinned. He placed it in his pocket and motioned for his enforcers to set up an ambush for their observer. He moved quickly through several corridors and arrived at his fortified command post. From there he issued orders to the rest of the men in his base to set up positions outside of every entry point. _Lets see you get through that, pig._ There was no doubt in his mind that the LEP was the group observing him, nobody else would be stupid enough to tangle with the mafia.

Holly was walking along a dingy alleyway near the port, her body pressed against the wall, minimising her silhouette. The lighting here was almost nonexistent, with the nearest neon covered building being Mesmerise itself, a few blocks north. Holly paused by a fire escape door allowing entry to the port, something felt off, she had been expecting to run into some guards, perhaps even a combat mech or two, but so far, she hadn't seen a soul. _I don't like this, but I can't back out now._

She carefully nudged the door open with her foot, stepping silently into the pitch blackness of the hallway beyond. She moved further into the hall, relying on her hearing and outstretched hands to guide her. She stopped suddenly, instinct turning her around to face the door. Just as it slammed shut. The enforcers in the room covered their eyes as bright lights flashed on, blinding Holly. Eyes streaming, she stumbled into the wall, sinking to the floor and rubbing the tears from her eyes. The enforcers had the advantage of surprise and numbers, but Holly was faster than any of them. She flicked her wrist and the curved blade of her weapon snapped out into place. It was longer than a normal katana, almost a nodachi. She placed both hands on the hilt and jumped at the nearest opponent. The enforcer didn't even have time to draw his pistol. _Human weapon, they don't intend to take me alive,_ she turned her weapon, leading with the edge instead of the flat as originally planned. Holly's blade split him in half, his torso hitting the ground before his legs. She twirled and knocked a second enforcer to the ground with the flat of her blade, she had taken some nausea suppressants earlier in the day in the event that she was forced to kill, despite her years on the force she had only ever taken a life once before. Her opponents were less fortunate, two of which began vomiting violently.

Holly forced herself to smile evilly, hoping to avoid further deaths by intimidation. The two vomiting enforcers stumbled out of the room, one shooting the hinges off the door and tossing his gun to the ground behind him as he ran. The rest held their ground, though one or two faltered slightly. Holly sighed, _time to do this the hard way._ She moved the point of the weapon in small circles, inches above the blood slicked tiled floor, as she advanced. The closest enforcer let out a cry of fear, raising his weapon and firing. Holly saw the first shot coming and with lightning speed she dodged to the right, the bullet flying past her, inches away from the fabric of her trenchcoat. She continued the movement, spinning counter clockwise and slitting the enforcers throat. She picked up his body and held it in front of her, the bullets of his comrades impacting, and making him gurgle in pain through his ruined throat. He went limp, and Holly tossed him at one of his allies, planting a spinning kick on the head of the other one. The final enforcer struggled to disentangle himself from the body of his friend, trying to bring his gun to bear, when Holly stamped down on his wrist, pulling out a buzzbaton and mercifully ending his terror with a shock to the head.

She tagged the two unconscious enforcers with trackers, then threw them out into the street, lowering them to the downtown area below with a cable tied the the railing. The fresh air was good for her pounding headache and slight illness, in spite of the suppressants. She disengaged the cable before placing it in her coat pocket and venturing back inside. Stepping gingerly over the pools of blood and still bodies.

She made her way through the building, shielding to hide herself from the security cameras and guards. After several near misses she arrived at the command centre, opening the door with a jab of her omni tool. She slipped inside and scanned the room, sealing the door behind her and unshielding when she saw the room was empty. _Somebody left in a hurry_, she thought as she looked at the papers and money strewn around the floor, particularly the money, nobody leaves that behind unless they are _really_ desperate. She walked over to the terminal, taking care to avoid standing on any of the evidence, and saw herself smiling evilly up at her. She started for a moment, before realising that it was footage of her attempts to intimidate the enforcers. She watched as the first man went down, and was hit with impacts as she used him for a shield. A missed shot ricocheted off the wall and took out the camera, filling the screen with static. She looked up from the screen, glancing around, before bringing up her holographic wrist computer (an invention of Artemis, or Foaly, there was a little bit of debate as to who came up with it first) and opened up a program designed to scan for deleted files.

All computers since the 2012 event had been built with hidden, microscopic nanocomputers scattered all over the hardware, these were built to store deleted files in the event that data was accidentally deleted and needed to be recovered. Their unofficial second use was as a method for the LEP to recover incriminating documents. She set the program to search for files from the last hour, and came up with only one, a message from someone called "F". She frowned and downloaded it to her computer, before uploading it to the LEP database and tagging it CLASSIFIED. Finally, she opened it and quickly went from a frown to a grimace. It was a list of fairies, many of whom had been branded as runaways or kidnapping victims over the past year. All of them were accompanied by holographs, with DECEASED stamped across it in bright red lettering. She closed the file and logged out of the terminal, giving the room a final sweep, opening a briefcase in the corner and discovering four custom built pistols, 30 centimetres long and chambering rounds big enough to stop a troll (or at least have any effect whatsoever). She picked up two of them, testing their weight, and slipped them into their holsters, strapping them to rest within her coat, above her hips. She then closed the briefcase carrying it with her out of the facility.

She began the trek back to her apartment, annoyed that her cover was blown and she'd have to spend several weeks training a replacement, as well as the shitstorm of investigations that she was likely to receive for the deaths of Hugo's enforcers. As stepped out onto one of the more populated streets of the Neon District, she felt a buzz around her wrist. Tapping the holographic screen which had appeared there, she smiled as she saw Artemis' face on the caller ID. Her smile rapidly vanished and her face whitened as she saw that he had tagged the call with urgent, whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. She held her finger and thumb to her ear and mouth respectively, mirroring Artemis' movements miles above, and spoke.

"Artemis?"

"Holly, thank goodness, I need your help." he sounded exhausted.

"What is it, what's happened?" Holly frowned worriedly, preparing for the worst.

"It's Butler, something is wrong," Holly's heart plummeted as he said it. "I think I have a solution, but I'll need you up here as soon as possible, tell Foaly he can have the wrist PC patent if he clears it."

"I'll see what I can do, I'll try and get Mulch up there too, need anything specific?"

"One of your more advanced fusion generators would be nice, a stasis pod too, and a shuttle."

"I'll get two shuttles, you can take the generator from one of them, as for the pod, no promises, those things are expensive."

"Thanks, please hurry, he doesn't have much time." He hung up.

Holly took a moment to marvel at the fact that she had just agreed to bring Artemis some of the most advanced technology the people had without a thought. Gone were the days when every move Artemis made was met with suspicion or even open hostilities, the advances he had made to the peoples heat expansion prevention systems had provided housing to every single one of the Atlantis refugees, he was something of a hero down in Haven. _That said, but Trouble is going to flip when he hears this._

**There you go, a much longer chapter this time, and with some action too. I don't know whether I like the idea of Holly being a killer, but I am striving for a more mature theme with this story than the original series. Please remember to review and make suggestions. There will likely be a wait just as long as this one between chapters, I wish I could go faster but I am also working on TAFE stuff and some animations that I am making. On top of that, I am something of a video game addict, so it can get a little hard to find time to write this. Funnily enough, I have been writing this at least once a week ever since the last chapter was published, but I rewrote most of it after I started to digress from the point, and then I had to do some things so the final few paragraphs were put on hold, either way, hope you enjoyed it. **

**~ A Space Ostrich**


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